Potions NEWTS
by GoddessofSnark
Summary: SSHG, and some HGDM, When Hermione and Draco are forced into potions NEWTS, their animosity leads to romance, although not quite with each other


The room was strikingly quiet except for the cruching of a morta and pestle, or the sligh scraping of a spoon against cauldron. Severus Snape would have smiled if it wasn't that he had an appearance to keep up. He liked the silence, especially in this class, because it was so rare. The animosity between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins was huge, but there was no class in which it was felt more than this one.  
  
He watched the 6th year class work diligently at the potion he had written upon the board, a look of benign amusement upon his face. It was so rare to see this class following directions, especially since the class contained Neville Longbottom. With the thought of the boy, he glanced up, and when he saw that he was working within none other than Hermione Granger, he allowed himself to relax slightly.  
  
Where Neville failed in potions, Hermione aptly made up. He mused over that fact. While Hermione was exceptionally bright in all forms of magic, she seemed to especially excel in potions, and it pained him to know that he could never publicly acknowledge that fact without having to endure the torture that his house would give him for acknowledging a Gryffindor over them. Of course, Slytherin had its great minds, not all of them were sheer brutes. But this year seemed to lack more than bumbling ogres.  
  
Draco Malfoy was smart, not exceptionally so, but smart enough. Like his father, Malfoy preffered to strut everywhere rather than ever degrade himself to mere walking. How much would Malfoy hate it if he found out that his dear mother was related to none other than Sirius Black? Snape felt his mouth twitch into a smirk at the thought of that. It wasn't that he didn't like Malfoy, au contrare, rather, it was that he hated the boy's arrogance. It reminded Snape so much of Lucius. The only reason why Lucius wasn't in Azkaban was because he paid the ministry off.  
  
And then there was the little welp Pansy Parkinson who followed Draco around like a little lost puppy dog. She couldn't even brew a potion if everything was prepared for her, and she just had to turn on and turn off the cauldron. In the same vein were Crabbe and Goyle, the two giants of the house. Lumbering oafs they were, they couldn't tell a wand from a twig, even if the wand produced large letters saying what it was.  
  
Snape sighed, this year was cursed, in both Slytherin and Gryffindor. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were only slightly better, though not much so. At least they didn't have to put up with Harry Potter. As much as Snape hated the boy, he couldn't help but watch out for him. Somewhere, hidden behind the cold exterior, Snape had strong paternal instincts, for all of his students, not only the Slytherins. Even the ones he appeared to hate.  
  
He was broken from his revere behind his desk when he caught the flash of motion, an elegant quick motion, not unlike the striking of a snake, of a hand lifting into the air. It took him not even a full second to realize who's it was. "Yes, Ms. Granger?" He drawled in his silky voice. He always had the same tone of voice. It induced fear into his students to know that the same voice could be used to both compliment and reprimand, without changing one bit.  
  
"Professor sir, I think we're done." Snape sighed. The potion he had assigned them, a simple pain reliever, did not need a certain amount of time to brew, it was however long it took one to prepare the ingredients and add them in at proper intervals. He raised from his seat, and strolled to the workbench where she and Neville were working. He gazed into the potion, and attempted to find anything wrong with it. It took him a moment, but he finally did. "You didn't chop your mandrake root up fine enough. You can still see particles of it in your potion. That drops you down a letter grade, but still, bottle it and place it on my desk."  
  
Hermione and Neville followed his instructions, or rather, Hermione did, and Neville just stood there trembling. Even though he had reformed from his death eater days, he still loved the power that he could inflict, the pain that he could inflict just from his presence alone. There was something unexplicable, something that could not be put into words, about that control that power, it was what he savored, what he lusted after. Power, wisdom, and notoriety. The first two being the most important of his values.  
  
After they had finished, most of the rest of the class followed, and he took this time to make the rounds. After helping Crabbe and Goyle with theres, and taking no mercy with Harry and Ron's potion, which was just barely even what it was supposed to be, he dismissed the class. As they walked out, he considered the one thing he had been pondering for a few weeks now. "Ms Granger, Mr. Malfoy, a word if you please." Both of them stopped dead in their tracks. The rest of their class passed them by as they tentatively made their way to his desk, Malfoy looking a lot more interested than Granger.  
  
After the rest of the class had left, and it was the ony three of them, Snape rose and circled behind them. "Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, you are both in your sixth year, and both of you scored very well on your owls for potions, correct?" They both only nodded their affirmation. "Now, next year, you have some choices to make in what NEWTS you take, most of which you need a teacher recommendation for. Now, I usually don't recommend many students for a Potions NEWT as many of them just don't pass muster. You two however, have shown great promise in potions."  
  
"You mean, you're recommending us for a potions NEWT?" Hermione said incredioulously.  
  
"I do believe that I just said that Ms. Granger. Perhaps you need to get your ears cleaned. Now, there is only one rule for the Potions NEWT class. And that is that you cooperate. You will have to work together, as many NEWT level potions require intense concentration and teamwork."  
  
"You mean I have to work with THAT?" Draco said disgustedly.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy, if you do not wish to work with Ms. Granger there are other students who I'm sure would be glad to take your place." Draco shut up abruptly at that. "There will also be one Hufflepuff, and one Ravenclaw joining you, whom I have not picked yet. You may go."  
  
Draco and Hermione stood there, gaping at both each other and their professor. "I gave you an order, leave. Or do I have to physically remove you from my classroom?" They both scurried out of the classroom and into the dungeon hallway.  
  
"Look Granger, if you think that I'm going to be friendly to you because of this, you need to think again. I'll be civil, but nothing more."  
  
"I wouldn't expect anything more than downright rudeness coming from a malfoy, I guess civility is like showering me with gifts coming from you." Malfoy started to draw his wand at that, but Hermione's quick glance at the nearby potions classroom, and the professor inside caused him to stop.  
  
"Just be glad I don't feel like being punished by Snape."  
  
"I didn't know he punished his beloved Slytherins."  
  
"He does, although he chooses to do it away from the public." With that, Draco spun on his heel and walked off, Hermione not far behind. 


End file.
